So I figured since I am not in the greatest of moods I should not infect all of you with my disease. Plus this week has just been all over the place and I still don’t know where my head is. I lost it back there somewhere. I am behind at work and there is too much to do. Too many doctors appointments this week. My brain is now consumed with thinking of a name for my new project. I like that there is nothing planned this weekend and that we aren’t scheduled to see people. I think I need a break.

The theme for 2009 is to get back to your roots right? I think that’s where I am headed.

English Bay

I normally don’t like talking about it on here but it has consumed all of my thoughts for weeks now.

I’ve spent a lot of time talking with friends and family about jobs. Their jobs, my job, every one’s job. And for some reason, at the end of all these conversations I am left feeling completely disheartened about my situation.

Like with any job, my position has its plus’ and it has its minus’, and lately the minus’ have been bothering me a lot more then they ever have. All I can think about is finding something new, finding something exciting, finding something with a change of pace. But as much as I want to get out there and see what else there is, a part of me thinks these feelings are somewhat miss placed. What I really think the problem is, is that I don’t feel like I am getting compensated enough for what I do and therefore I don’t feel like putting any effort into my job and it has become very boring. I could be doing a lot more but I don’t want to because I don’t feel like they think I am worth it.

I know that this is my own fault. It has been over a year and a half since my last raise and I am long over due for another one. Part of me is terrified to ask for one and the other part of me just can’t seem to find the right timing. I’m not going to lie but this whole Cancer thing has screwed a lot of stuff up. I was going to ask for a raise at the beginning of the year but then I was constantly having to leave work for Doctors appointments and then surgery and then more appointments and on and on and it just felt wrong asking for more money when I was constantly having to leave or not be at work. But, maybe that’s just an excuse I gave myself.

As far as finding a new job goes, its also probably not the best time, economically and personally. In just over a year I will be taking a month long trip to Italy and I’m sure pretty soon after that will be knocked up and on maternity leave. Is there really any point in starting a new job only to work there for a year and then basically leave? If this job was horribly awful then of course yes, but the fact is its not. Plus, most jobs out there like you to have 3 or more years experience in the fashion industry so why and I trying to cut myself short of that?

The fact of the matter is that this job is close to home, I’m in the field I want to be in, the majority of the people I work with I love to death, I get to spend a lot of time blogging (ha) and they are pretty flexible with me. The cons are that I don’t get paid nearly enough, I don’t feel challenged anymore, and the part of me that really cared about this company is starting to fade at an alarming rate. But is that enough to make it worth changing jobs?

If you were to ask me what my ideal job would be I could answer it in a second. It’s not what you expect (unless it is, ha). I don’t want to be a designer, and I don’t want to be a fashionista. I don’t want to become world famous or make millions of dollars. All I want to do is stay home with my kids and take care of them, then pop over to my little sewing room in the corner and spend hours with brightly coloured threads and leftover buttons and scraps of printed fabric and make hand sewn things. Be it puppets or felt figurines or quilts or babies clothes and then sell them at markets and fairs like some leftover hippy from the 70s, or maybe a fun boutique with interesting pieces . I adore the delicate work of hand stitching. I love crafts and as a kid always made my own purses and little stitching projects. Its all about attention to detail for me not about mass production. Thinking about it right now makes me incredibly happy. I know I could start my own company and it would be amazing. But this is a dream, of course, and will have to wait.

So is it so bad that I spend my time here, saving up for the days where I get to take the kids to the park and then come home and make an entire bear family out of plaid scraps and felt?

Now that I think about it, maybe not.

Hopefully he made the right choice.

Ok so how about next week everything goes back to normal. Do you think that’s possible? It feels like my posts have been all over the place too which I hate. But oh well, such is life.

I have been working my ass off today which is something I rarely do on Fridays but it feels good to be productive and have something accomplished by the end of the day.

I think tonight we are going to head down to English Bay for Date Night. We were suppose to do that last Friday but it rained, and then things went sour. Tonight though, it is sunny and beautiful outside so I think it will be perfect. The plan is to head down there and go for a walk and then hit up Flying Wedge for some crazy midnight pizza. This is a summer tradition I look forward to every year. The only thing is we are having steaks and baked potatoes for dinner and the thought of that AND pizza makes me feel like the fattest person ever. We will have to go for a long walk in between meals.

I kind of think my head is going to explode right now.

Right so anyways, the Swiss Chalet…

Dinner at the Swiss Chalet with Matt on Wednesday night was good though I really doubt I will go back again. I’m sorry but I can not handle the atmosphere in there. Some how, both times I ‘ve been, the place has been packed with loud fat people shoving chicken in their faces. I told Matt next time we are going to HAVE to order out. This chicken is good, but the people are not.

We were seated next to this couple and the wife was on the phone yammering so loud about her cell phone bill and how shes pissed off and yadda yadda. I wanted to throw a toasted roll at her head of but you know the toasted rolls are too precious for that. Then the waiter proceeded to bring her a glass of Ice Tea, her husband some coffee, then Matt & I glasses of water.

On his way back past their table she promptly asks him if they serve Tap Water when people ask for Water. To this he replies Yes then walks away. He comes back a few minutes later to bring us our food, drops it off and then turns toward the couples table. She shouts out to him asking what he would do if someone was allergic to tap water. He says that they also serve bottled water. So she says to him – “Well, I will have you know that I am HIGHLY allergic to tap water”…

I’m sorry WHAT!?

1. Who the hell is ACTUALLY allergic to Tap Water? OK I’m sure there might be someone out there. Actually come to think of it I think Oprah once did a special on this, but in Vancouver…at the Swiss Chalet…COME ON!
2. Why the hell are you even tell the waiter this when you CLEARLY ordered an ICE TEA (which I am sure was watered down with TAP WATER)??? WHAT DOES YOUR ICE TEA HAVE TO DO WITH YOU BEING “HIGHLY” ALLERGIC TO TAP WATER???
3. I’m pretty sure all the cutlery you are using was washed in TAP WATER so whats going to happen now??? ARE YOU GOING TO DIE???
4. GET OVER YOURSELF AND WASH YOUR GREASY PONY TAIL!!!

When I heard this conversation taking place I almost lost it. Well, I did loose it in my head. This is why I dine at classier places. Yes, the Swiss Chalet is beneath me. I will admit it, I am a food snob, and clearly this situation here demonstrates why I have to be a food snob. I can not handle people like this. I almost wasted a chicken leg by throwing it at this womans face!!

skab#(*&ry asodfp(*np@r()qp:sfgb)@*)q(*)(b&@#rhwlf  People drive me NUTS!

Le sigh.

I am now going to down my frustration in Steak and Pizza.

I know you wish you were me.

I had a feeling it was going to be a weird day…

The number of celebrities that have died while I was online at work checking TMZ is actually shocking…

 
Is it creepy that this is the first picture I have of Chad and I the first time we met because it creeps me out??? Chad clearly hasn’t changed. This photo always reminds me of what it was like back when I first started blogging.

I think this is the first time I have ever remembered to acknowledge my Blogiversary. I’m usually a day short, or I forget all together.

It’s funny that every year I get mad at myself for forgetting about this oh so special day and for not writing anything important about it, and then this year comes along and I actully remember and I have nothing to say.

4 years ago today I got myself my first official blog. From there I met friends and interesting people, and I married a blogger and got free gifts. It is obvious that my life would in no way be close to the way it is now if it wasn’t for this blog. I wouldn’t be friends with half the people I know, I wouldn’t be married, I wouldn’t be cool. HA. I guess you could say I pretty much owe my life to my blog, but at the same time if I didn’t exist it wouldn’t exist so maybe it owes its life to me.

No matter what I have done in my life this blog has always been there with me. And although I’m sure if I didn’t work a job where I sit infront of a computer for 8 hours a day I might not have the opportunity to blog as much as I do, the fact is I do. Maybe the universe worked it out that way. The universe wants me to blog.

Every day this thing surprises me. It surprises me with how many people come out of the wood work and comment or send me emails or want to meet me in person.

I heart my blog.

Even when you are all gone, I’m pretty sure I will blog until the day I die.

4 years. I can’t believe its been that long!

I’m wearing my Lesbian Plaid shirt from Aritzia today. It’s quite cold out and in this office. I think the air conditioner is on, and that doesn’t make any sense.

Matt is taking me to the Swiss Chalet tonight. It is his favorite restaurant which is kind of surprising given all the amazing places we have eaten at. I’m clearly ignorant when it comes to the Swiss Chalet because I only think I’ve ever been there once before, and that was with Matt. I remember the menu being not what I excepted. Actually, I don’t really know what I was expecting. I just remember a lot of really fat people chowing down on chicken. I checked out the menu again this morning and realized its all based on chicken, rotisserie chicken. This should be interesting. I think the last time I was there and I looked at the menu I realized that everything they were serving was basically stuff your Mom would serve for Sunday Dinner in the middle of winter. Now, since my Mom did make this kind of food for Sunday Night Dinner I never felt the need to go to a restaurant to eat it. The good thing today is that it is rainy and cold outside and probably the perfect weather for the Swiss Chalet.

For the past two nights there has been nothing to do. Thats right, nothing to do. We make dinner, we eat it, we clean up, and then we have 3 hours of nothing but watching TV. I’m not going to lie, its kind of boring, which is kind of ironic because all the nights where I am so swamped with stuff to do all I wanted to do it pass out on the couch to the TV. Now I have that chance and it’s making me crazy.

My eyes hurt.

Nothing interesting is going on today.

We finally figured out what we are going to do for our First Anniversary. Yes it’s already sneaking up on us. We’ve decided to head up to Whistler for the Labour Day long weekend. Go up on the Friday afternoon and come home the Monday afternoon. We’ve been doing a lot of hotel research but I think we are finally settled on the Pan Pacific Whistler Mountainside. It looks amazing and the location is perfect so I am really excited. I even found out that the weekend we are going up is the last weekend for this special deal – $55 and you get a lift pass to the mountain for the whole day and then at 5pm they serve you a BBQ style dinner at the Round House halfway up the mountain. Sounds amazing! I absolutly love Whistler so I am really looking forward to being surrounded by Mountains for an entire weekend. I’m such a mountain girl.

I have eaten left overs from Sundays dinner for the past two days. I’ve finished everything except for the  meat.

See, nothing interesting.

Marlee is in surgery this morning. I’m waiting to here how it went.

I don’t think this weekend was what anyone expected it to be. It did have its good moments though.

It’s hard when your best friends are going through a rough patch. It’s hard for me not to get emotionally involved in it and want to fix it. As much as I try to not let it affect me, it does, because I love them.

I can not even count how many times I lost this weekend.

Saturday we went to Bosa to buy all the missing ingredients for our Fathers Day extravaganza. I will let you guess how much HALF of the ingredients cost. Nope, Nope, Nope. $100. This is because I am ridiculous and want to believe that I am actually the head chef at some fancy restaurant and feel the need to prepare way too much fabulous food then is really needed. I knew this going in but because it was the first time I was having my parents over I felt the need to blow their socks off. I might have achieved that, but in my head I didn’t. My head is a strange place.

That afternoon we cleaned. We cleaned all the stuff we still hadn’t cleaned from the camping trip. The clothes were washed. The kitchen was re arraigned. The picture Pat took was printed and hung in its rightful spot.

I then may or many not have had a slight emotion breakdown from thinking too much about all that was going on.

Marlee was gracious enough to come over and Fish Tail my hair even though she was unable to come out with us for dinner. I love Fish Tails.

The boys met us at the apartment and we took the train down to Memphis Blues where we met Ryan and Elise. We ‘pigged out’ on pork. It was fabulous. We barely had enough food to fill us all up on.

Once the meat sweats set in we awkwardly packed into Elise’s car and drove down to Toby’s for some drinks. Because we got to Memphis Blues early to beat the rush it was only 7 by the time we got to Toby’s. Yea, people usually don’t show up that early to start drinking. Luckily this allowed us to get a giant table right beside the pool table.

The boys chose different pitchers of beer and the girls mulled over how the Mojitos tasted like basil. Considering they were our first Mojitos we didn’t know what to expect.

There was pool playing and blackberry wikipedia searching, penny bouncing and hockey playing, jackass watching and paisley corduroy shirt envying.

Then ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ came on and we knew it was our key to leave. 5 hours in a bar, not bad. I’d go back again.

Sunday the weather played tricks on us. We got up early and started our day and began to prepare all the food we needed for that night. The marinade for the Pork Fillets was interesting. It was the first time we were trying this recipe. Chad was very worried about it. I guess its not smart to try out a new recipe on guests the first time they are invited over, especially on your main dish. Oh well, I had faith.

Francesca, Elise, & Ryan came over in the afternoon. The boys watched golf and the girls when and got manicures and pedicures. Now that I know Pure Nail Bar is across the street from me and their prices are very reasonable I am pretty sure I will be going there quite a bit. We got to sit in comfy white couches and watch episodes of Friends while we had our nails done. Best idea ever.

Back home I finished preparing everything for dinner. The parentals and brother came over and we ate.

Appetizer – Although Chad slightly burned the roasted garlic it still tasted amazing and I was pleased with it.

Main – So the marinade had a lot of crazy things in it, and there was a part of me that was actually disappointed with the taste, but after trying it again this morning I think with a little less orange zest and a little more charring on the BBQ and it would have been perfect. I am not so against trying this recipe again.

Salads – Well its hard to screw that up. They were both damn tasty.

Sides – The mushrooms didn’t turn out 100% as I was expecting but they were tasty and I know how to make them better the next time. The potatoes as well didn’t turn out 100% as I was expecting even though I’ve made them many times, but they were still very good.

Dessert – This blew Chad away, probably because he thought he had married Bobby Flay or something. It wasn’t so much about the contents as it was the presentation. I really should have taken a photo. Picture a large wooden tray with a bottle of chilled Grappa surrounded by shot glasses, a mound of perfectly frozen red grapes and pile of 4 different types of chocolate. The combination of the three was amazing. It made me look like I knew what I was doing.

Over all I guess it was a success even though I focused on the things that went wrong. I’m silly like that.

Now it’s Monday and we will see how the week plays out.

Pork Fest 09